Design of steel roofs subjected to drifted snow using genetic optimization

Formed metal deck roofs play an important role in steel building construction. There are many design variables in deck design to make it important for designers to put the right combination together to achieve a better design. In this paper, a procedure for the design of steel roofs subjected to non-uniform loads such as drifted snow is presented. The presented approach uses genetic algorithms to achieve optimal or near-optimal designs. The advantages of the model stem from two main points: (1) it searches for the optimum or near-optimum number of purlins for the roof; and (2) it determines the near-optimum spacing between purlins to minimize the structure weight. Details of model development are described and example applications are presented to demonstrate the model capabilities.